Immortal In A Death Game

Chapter 247: Thirty

"Has... anyone reached Adam?"

"He turned off all his comms. Maybe Katherine can contact him?"

"Negative. She said he hasn’t gone home since Harvey passed."

"He’ll miss the procession."

"Let him. We don’t need him here."

"Evan. Stop it."

"What, Caleb? What? We honestly barely even know the dude! I don’t even know if he remembers anyone else besides Beatrice, Harvey, and Leona! I bet you he doesn’t even remember our names anymore. Shit, Leona also barely even talks to the guy and is just stuck trying to figure out where he’s from. When he’s from. The guy’s a freak."

"Shut up. Just shut up. None of this... even feels real. It’s so sudden... but this is the life we chose. Harvey isn’t the first one we lost."

"You too, Sabrina? You’re trying to protect the guy? And no, we shouldn’t have lost Harvey in the first place. He also failed to protect Bea."

"I did not need protection, Evan. This is our job."

"Bullshit."

Several days had passed since Harvey’s sudden death. The Heroes of the RLRD, along with a few members of the IBAA, stood gathered around his grave as the funeral reached its end. The priest had already finished the procession, and the pallbearers were beginning to lower the coffin.

Adam wasn’t there.

He hadn’t been seen anywhere near them for the past seventy-two hours.

Evan had a lot to say about that. He shifted, clearly itching to speak, but the moment he noticed the priest, and a few others, glancing his way, he swallowed it down. Instead, he lowered his head and watched as the casket descended slowly into the ground.

"I... didn’t realize Harvey was Christian," he whispered, leaning slightly toward Selena. "I always thought he was Hindu or something. His dad’s from India, right?"

"I thought you knew Harvey better than most," Selena shot back quietly, adjusting her grip on her umbrella. "And no. I didn’t know either."

"He’s one of the lucky ones," Leona said from behind them.

Evan frowned, glancing over his shoulder.

"How is he lucky?" he whispered, a bit too loud.

"We’re burying him," Leona replied. "Billions before him didn’t get that."

Evan opened his mouth, then closed it again. There wasn’t really anything to say after that. He exhaled slowly, shut his eyes, and clasped his hands together—offering a quiet prayer he didn’t even realize he still remembered.

"...Wait for us there, bro."

After that, the funeral slowly thinned out. People left one by one, their footsteps fading into the distance. The RLRD met Harvey’s family at some point, but it all blurred together—none of them could really recall what was said or how it went.

Soon enough, they were the only ones left. They stood in silence, watching as the pallbearers began to fill the grave, shoveling dirt over the coffin below.

Evan was the first to turn away. He took a step—

And stopped. His eyes widened slightly as he spotted a figure standing near one of the trees.

"You—"

He almost moved toward him, but paused when he realized Adam wasn’t looking at him. He wasn’t looking at any of them.

His gaze was fixed on the grave.

"Adam!" Sabrina called out as soon as she noticed him, raising her hand. "Adam! We’re here!"

Adam glanced at her briefly. Responding with nothing but a nod before he turned away the moment he realized they had all seen him.

But a quiet gust stirred in front of him, brushing against the grass at his feet. The blades bent, lifting slightly as if something unseen had passed through them.

For a moment, he just watched.

Then the leaves settled, unveiling Beatrice standing there.

"Adam..." she whispered.

He gave her the same response, a small nod, before turning again, stepping away as if he had no intention of staying. He bent slightly, ready to leap—

But Beatrice caught his wrist.

"That’s... dangerous," Adam muttered, his eyes dropping to her hand. "You’re going to get hurt. Please, let go."

"I am not going to get hurt, Adam."

He looked up at her face, holding her gaze for a brief moment—before his eyes drifted down, settling on the bandages peeking out from her neck and shoulders.

"You already have," he whispered, gritting his teeth as his hands curled. "I’m going to go now. I... only dropped by because it was close to a Leak I was going to."

"Stop lying." Beatrice tightened her grip. "I know every Leak activity within a hundred miles. There is no active Leak anywhere near here. Rest, Adam."

"I don’t need to sleep like the rest of you."

"I am not talking about sleep."

"I’m—"

"I am not blaming you, Adam." Beatrice didn’t let Adam finish. "What happened to Harvey was not your fault. You do not need to punish yourself."

Adam couldn’t say anything—and he couldn’t leave, either. That window had gone away when the rest of the RLRD approached.

He closed his eyes, seemingly afraid to look at any of them. He even turned his head away, wanting to disappear, but couldn’t. Beatrice’s grip felt like a prison he couldn’t escape.

And so, he swallowed his fears, slowly turning toward them.

"I’m... sorry," he muttered, looking at everyone’s faces one by one. "I’m so... so sorry for your loss. I made a mistake and—"

He felt a tinge of pain in his cheek as Evan suddenly punched him in the face. Adam, however, didn’t recoil or even flinch from the strike, but it hurt nonetheless... it hurt more than anything he’d experienced the last few weeks.

"F-fuck!" Evan pulled and grabbed his hand, curling in pain as it felt like he had just hit a steel wall. He recovered quickly, however, and rushed at Adam again, grabbing him by the collar. Beatrice was about to pry him away, but Evan’s screams erupted and caused a violent ripple that blew her and the others away a few feet.

"Fuck you!" he roared right at Adam’s face, the sound causing the strands of his hair to stand up and vibrate.

"I’m—"

"He was your friend, too!" Evan’s voice shook as he grabbed Adam by the collar and yanked him up closer to him. "He was your friend, too, Adam. It’s your loss just as much as it’s ours. Your friend died—and you were the one who carried his body."

His grip tightened.

"Fuck you. Grieve, man..." His voice cracked. "...You’re allowed to grieve."

Evan slowly lowered Adam back down, but his hand stayed clenched around his collar. For a moment, Adam just stared at him blankly, before his eyes drifted past him, landing on Beatrice... then the others.

And then Sabrina, and seeing her break... was enough.

His breath hitched. His lips trembled, barely holding together. He tried to breathe in, but the air caught in his throat, strangling him from the inside.

When it finally came out—

It came with everything else.

The tears followed immediately, breaking through as if something inside him had finally given way. He tried to speak, but nothing formed—only uneven, stuttering gasps.

His legs weakened beneath him. Slowly, he leaned forward, pressing his forehead against Evan’s chest as his body shook.

Beatrice stepped in without a word. She placed a hand on Adam’s shoulder, then pulled him in, wrapping her arms around both of them.

One by one, the others closed in.

No one spoke.

They just held on, pulling tighter, until all of them were locked together in a single, quiet embrace. Well, this quiet embrace didn’t last long, however, as Caleb’s behemoth of a body caused all of them to lose balance.

"Oh, shit! Caleb!"

"N-no!"

But alas, their arms were too entwined together, and they couldn’t jump out in time. The only thing they could do was let themselves fall and be crushed by him.

"I... I can’t breathe." Evan wheezed, being the one at the bottom. But soon, however... "I... ha... haha...hahaha!"

They all started to laugh.

Adam also couldn’t leave, sandwiched between the RLRD members. He just looked at the pallbearers, who were also looking at them weirdly—but Adam wasn’t really looking at them, but at the hole they were digging.

"I... will miss him," he whispered.

"Yeah. Me—"

[The 246th Battle will start in one hour!]

"What?!" Everyone’s eyes widened as the voice of the Administrator suddenly boomed in the air. "The Games are still ongoing?! I thought the Survival Mode replaced them?!"

"No. The Administrators never said that. But... isn’t it too fast?"

"No..." Beatrice blinked. "It is the right date. We were just too preoccupied to—"

And once again, they were interrupted. But this time, not by the Administrator’s voice or anyone cutting them in... but by the light that suddenly wrapped all of them.

"Wha—who is it?! Quick! Separate!" Evan sat up, causing everyone to roll away. None of them cared, however, as they all quickly backed away from each other and started looking at themselves, checking if they were the one being sent into the Game.

But of course, deep inside, they already knew who was being summoned—it was one of the Games’ quiet rules.

Those who had just been reborn into a Hero were guaranteed to be summoned within the next five Games. Of course...

...it could only be Adam.

"Hm..." Adam sat on the ground, looking at the orbs of light dancing around him. He sighed, closing his eyes before glancing at everyone again.

"Hey..." Evan raised his fist. "Give them hell, Endless."

"Dont... give them hell." Leona sighed at Evan’s advice. "Do whatever you need to do, Adam. Just make sure you’re going to come back...

...because we’ll all be waiting for you."

"I will." Adam nodded, standing up as he took in a deep breath. "I’ll be back."

And with that, he disappeared and was summoned to the Game.

...And then again, a few years later after that.

And just like that... thirty years passed by.